I need help, major debt

pudding06

Hi and welcome - youre in the right place!!!

AA MEMBERSHIP £15.25mth

this sounds very high I dont pay anything like this for mine!!! Is it for 2 cars?

sometimes you can get it included free with your car insurance. Next time time you renew shop around and once you have a good quote try asking if they'll include it for free.

Have you shopped around for your ppi for your mortgage, house insuraces etc.

you should be able to cut down on your food shopping £300 pmth is high even for those with kids to feed. How many are there of you?

be careful of water meters cos if you get one you cant go back!!! losts of people are worse off with one!!

How much is left on your next card? and what is the apr/interest rate for this?

oh and youve guessed it - stop smoking lol

pudds

zippee

.
Thank you everyone.

I've seemed to shop around for everything, house ins is at it's lowest. Car insurances mines paid (was by CC admitedly so isn't really is it) h's is £32 a mth, the AA memebership is for 2 cars, the water meter would work out more money for us in the long run, we looked into it.

The shopping we are trying to get down, we shop for four, inc two toddlers. I do cook mostly from scratch, we have one main supermarket where we are and it's Tesco and bleetin expensive, i do try to get most of out stuff in Aldi, but it's only a small one. I will have a look at the board rec for this thank you.

"BT DIRECT DEBITS £40.00 mth is this outstyanding arrears? try to reduce this by using 1899/18185 or talk talk" There are no outstanding debts with BT we are always in Credit they won't reduce the DD

BRITISH GAS ELEC £30.00 mth have you shopped for cheapest supplier for gas/elec - use https://www.uswitch.com to compare and switch I have looked at swapping but we have a huge elec bill from our previous address and can not afford to pay it before we swap.

When it comes to road tax mot etc, we panic when the time comes as we don't ever seem to be able to put anything aside.

We are both trying to stop smoking and that bill has been halved.

There are prob little things I've forgotten which would probably add up as well.

I am a SAHM and I've been trying to get work, my H finishes work at different times each day, he works from wed-sun, he's a HGV driver so some days he'll finish at 3pm or could be 6pm.

We just seem to be in a rut. I just want to see a way out of it.

Mrs_Sparkle

Hi and welcome! You're in the right place- lots of us here in the same boat.

I definitely agree about the shopping bill... I've been reducing mine since I joined here. The OS board is fantastic and I've just started recording my weekly meal plans over there which makes me stick to it. Good luck with stopping smoking- just think of the difference it'll make to your situation, you could do a lot with that money.

Good luck and keep us informed as to how you get on!

anniestar

zippee wrote:

.
Thank you everyone.

I've seemed to shop around for everything, house ins is at it's lowest. Car insurances mines paid (was by CC admitedly so isn't really is it) h's is £32 a mth, the AA memebership is for 2 cars, the water meter would work out more money for us in the long run, we looked into it.

The shopping we are trying to get down, we shop for four, inc two toddlers. I do cook mostly from scratch, we have one main supermarket where we are and it's Tesco and bleetin expensive, i do try to get most of out stuff in Aldi, but it's only a small one. I will have a look at the board rec for this thank you.

"BT DIRECT DEBITS £40.00 mth is this outstyanding arrears? try to reduce this by using 1899/18185 or talk talk" There are no outstanding debts with BT we are always in Credit they won't reduce the DD

BRITISH GAS ELEC £30.00 mth have you shopped for cheapest supplier for gas/elec - use https://www.uswitch.com to compare and switch I have looked at swapping but we have a huge elec bill from our previous address and can not afford to pay it before we swap.

When it comes to road tax mot etc, we panic when the time comes as we don't ever seem to be able to put anything aside.

We are both trying to stop smoking and that bill has been halved.

There are prob little things I've forgotten which would probably add up as well.

I am a SAHM and I've been trying to get work, my H finishes work at different times each day, he works from wed-sun, he's a HGV driver so some days he'll finish at 3pm or could be 6pm.

We just seem to be in a rut. I just want to see a way out of it.

We reduced our BT DD pre DFW we used to spend a fortune and ended up some £205 in credit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To reduce a DD you dont have to actully speak to anyone. Just ring the BT freephome number, follow all the various prompts(a bit of a pain but worth it) then key in what you are going to pay. Its all automated ant the voice will give you their reccomendation but you can put in your own ammount(thats what we did and it started next payment date. Its dead simple and saved us a fortune. Best of luck.)

tryhard_2

with bt - if you are in credit ask them for a refund and use it towards your debt

annmatkat

Hi
If you shop at Tesco, save up your clubcard vouchers. £31.25 gets you a year's Roadside Recovery Joint policy with RAC.
Hth

david_hellier

Hi and welcome. According to my calcs you have £74.18 per week to spend on food, clothes, fags, going out etc. I suggest you write this amount in a little book on a Monday and keep a track of what you spend by subtraction. If you do have any over the next Sunday, use it to over pay your most expensive debt.

I note you have life and mortgage protection. Are these both necessary together? Also you mention petrol. Is it a company car? What about tax ins/mot, service etc? I also note no overdraft. Do you have one?

Given your dependents, you probably need to increase income by about £100 per week to be reasonably comfortable, but you must stop using CCs for any more purchases. Run your life by the balance in your book, not in the bank.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

Weekly Monthly
Pay 0.00 2129.00
rent/mortgage 611.00
council tax 99.00
secured loans
tv licence 8.63
electricity 30.00
gas 17.00
water 24.65
black horse 41.67
bt 40.00
v money ins 20.82
cahoot 158.85
h in one 35.12
house ins 35.41
nw loan 258.41
AA 15.25
mint cc 121.00
natwest cc 121.00
virgin cc 50.00
next 20.00
petrol 80.00
egg cc 20.00







Start £74.18

roxy7699

zippee wrote:

.
Thank you everyone.

the AA memebership is for 2 cars,

Have a look at RAC http://www.rac.co.uk/web/breakdowncover/uk/ they have a joint cover for £54 a year

zippee

Thanks everyone, I don't get on the computer much so sorry I've not been back on.

I am stitting down today and going to try and figure everything out. At the weekend I cut up every single plastic card in the house. Except Bank Debit Cards, so we can't put anything more on the credit cards, now I need to look at the best way of paying everything off.

What is the best thing to do? Keep all the debts separate and pay everything or try to consolidate?

I am looking at ways of trying to increase our income, I'm looking for work but Childcare seems to wipe everything I would earn out, I don't really know what to do about this so any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks again everyone, I feel better for getting it of my chest, but I just need to figure out where to go from here.

zippeex

Verbatim

Hi Zippee,

Well done on cutting up the cards.:T

Consolidation loans aren't seen as a good thing generally on here as the danger is that it's a short term fix, you think "great, sorted" so don't change behaviour and then a couple of years later are in an even worse fix. ALSO if consolidation loans are secured (on your house) you turn unsecured debt into debt that could lose you your home if you can't keep up the loan payments for any unforseen reason.

On the work front could you do any babysitting, childminding/collecting children from school or maybe something you could do from home like ironing? How about offering to make xmas cakes for friends, but you'd have to charge enough to make a profit after fuel and ingredients, or if you're artistic a present wrapping service?

well done on taking the first steps. You sound in control of where your going now. Good luck with the next few weeks.